


What's past is present

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: 6 Underground (2019)
Genre: Flashbacks, Gen, Near Death Experiences, Random & Short, Team Dynamics, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:02:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27555040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: Billy remembers a scenario like this, where he falls to his death and his friends care more about the loot than his life, but maybe, just maybe, this time it will end out differently, and his life will mean more than it used to
Relationships: Four | Billy & Three | Javier (6 Underground)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49





	What's past is present

**Author's Note:**

> This is really not my favourite fic at all, and I'm not too thrilled with how it turned out, but I hope you guys enjoy it! I just couldn't get the imagery out of my head, even if it really didn't come out that well on paper.

Really, Billy should have known that something like this was going to happen again. It happened once already, right? There was no real reason for it not to happen twice.

He was sprinting across rooftops, dodging bullets from behind him and exploding grenades that were tossed at him from the street, little regard for the ancient architecture, and if Billy wasn’t currently in a life-or-death chase through Paris, maybe he would have spared a thought for the thousands of years worth of history that they were destroying without a care.

In his ear, he could dimly hear the familiar bickering of One and Amelia in his ear, yelling at each other more than they were encouraging him, and he hid behind a chimney as another volley of gunshot fired at him, closer than he would have liked.

Next time, he should have asked why he was always the one forced into dangerous situations to retrieve some unnecessary, expensive object, but as he was sprinting over loose shingles and uneven gutters, all thoughts of protests left his mind. He had been in situations like this before, and though the experience gave him that thrill that he needed, the adrenaline that made him feel alive, he never learned to enjoy the fear and panic that he was going to die on one of these missions, or he was going to misjudge a jump and fall into an unrecognisable splat on the ground.

“Are you close yet, Four?” One demanded into his earpiece. “I can hear the gunshots. I think I remembered begging you before you left to be _discrete_.”

“You try being discrete when you’ve been sent in to steal the most important fucking thing in all of Paris,” Billy snapped when he narrowly dodged another volley of bullets. “Next time, you do the hard shit instead of sitting back and watching!”

He needed to get far away from here, and he needed to do it soon. His lungs burned, his legs ached like jelly, and the crystals decorating the tiara dug into his skin from how hard he had to grip it he thought that it might have drawn blood. Either way, no matter how he had to get the hell out of here, and hopefully he would manage to do it with his heart still beating and his head still attached to his neck.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a rusty ladder that led to a higher level of the buildings, and he stuck the tiara in his mouth so he could use both his hands to climb the rickety, rusted ladder, thankfully protected by a section of the wall, and he couldn’t help the grin that stretched across his face as the bullets impacted the rough bricks.

On the second landing, the footholds were few and far between, and the shingles were looser, so he kept his hands free and the stupid tiara in his mouth. It was heavy, and the gems clanked against his teeth as he ran, and he knew that if he needed any delta work he would blackmail One into paying for it.

“Two and Three are going to meet you a block away with the getaway van,” Blain said over the earpiece, and Billy had never been so pleased to hear his voice. “Not far now, just hang tight.”

If Billy’s mouth wasn’t currently filled with precious gems and sparkly silver, he probably would have replied with a snide and witty comment, but he had half a mind to focus on running and trying not to die a very painful death.

By the time he crossed the block and came into view of the building Blain had mentioned, he felt like he had been drowning for far too long and his lungs screamed and his body tingled with anticipation for whatever the fuck was going to happen next-

There was shouting from behind him, somebody giving orders, another flurry of gunshot that was far too close, and the only thought in his mind was to run and get the hell out of there, and he ran and he panted and he leapt-

And he was falling.

_He could see her, leaning over the building to reach him, and he called to her with his mouth filled with diamonds with his grip slackening on the edge of the building, and just when he expected her to save him and pull him up so they could run away together with the team, but instead of his wrist, her fingers wrapped around the diamonds dangling from his teeth, and she looked at him with a sympathetic yet unapologetic expression before she yanked, hard, and he was falling, falling, falling-_

But this time, he stopped falling long before he hit the ground, and Javier’s face was peering over the lip of the building with his hands wrapped around Billy’s arm almost painfully tight as Billy impacted against the side of the building so hard he saw stars.

Javier heaved him up against the bricks, Billy trying to help him as best he could by searching for grip for his boots, but Javier mostly single-handedly carried his entire weight and heaved him up and up until he was being dragged, panting and groaning, to relative safety. 

“Hey? Kid?” Javier’s face appeared in Billy’s swarming vision, full of concern that Billy had rarely seen in his life, kneeling down beside him, on hand on Billy’s chest. “Are you alright? You good? Kid?”

“Yeah,” Billy gasped, blinking. “I’m OK. Uh, thanks.”

The concern never left his eyes, but Javier certainly looked relieved. “Good. You had us worried for a little bit there. Come on, Camille is waiting.”

Still out of breath, Billy grasped Javier’s outstretched hand and clambered to his feet, scooping the tiara from the concrete as he did, and the two of them made their way down the side of the building and away from the soaring bullets and into the getaway car that Camile was waiting in, watching them worriedly from the driver's seat. The door slammed shut behind them and Camille peeled away from the gunfire, and Billy tiredly handed Javier the tiara as he leaned his head against the cool window and just took a moment to breathe, vaguely aware of chirping in his ear as the team kept themselves updated and Javier assured everyone that Billy was still alive- and, importantly to One, that they had the tiara.

When they were back at base, deep in the isolation of the California desert, Javier placed a heavy hand on Billy’s shoulder as he was trying to stumble back towards his trailer for a much-needed rest. “Hey, man,” he said. “I wanted to ask you about this in the car, but you seemed pretty knocked out. When I caught you, after you jumped, you kinda looked like you had seen a ghost. Like you were surprised. What was that all about?”

Billy thought about a time long ago, full of fear and pain and uncertainties, and remembered the feeling of falling, of impacting against concrete and garbage bags and bricks, and recalled how he never in a million years would have thought that he would survive that a first time, much less a second time. And especially not with this group.

“Just reminded me of that last time that happened to me, you know?” Billy said vaguely. “Last time, I was with a bunch of people who could have helped me out, but uh… I wasn’t quite so lucky.”

An unreadable expression crossed Javier’s face, and his aw tightened and his eyelid twitch. ‘Ah,” he said. “Right.”

“Yeah,” Billy gulped, rubbing a hand across the back of his head, tugging at the strands. “So thanks for coming to save me. You didn’t need to. You could have died. You could have gotten out of there.”

“No way,” Javier shook his head. “We’re a team, you know. A family. We stick together, no matter what. Through hard times and all. That’s something my mama drilled into me as a kid. Family is there for each other.”

“You say that, but I’m not sure anyone else would have done it. Definatinaley not One. Probably not any of the others,” Billy kicked at the dust, shoved his hands in his pockets. “So thanks for saving me and not the tiara.”

“You know, man, I think that we care about you more than you think,” Javier said in a tone that told Billy not to push. “But anyway, you’re welcome. You should rest. You did a lot of work today, good work, despite what One says.”

“Yeah,” Billy said as Javier patted him on the back and left him alone in the middle of the camp. “Thanks.”

After such a long day, he finally felt the exhaustion gnawing at his bones and gave in to the pulsing feeling of the aching of his whole body, his bloodied fingertips, his calloused feet, and finally allowed himself to retire to his trailer, whole, and alive.

**Author's Note:**

> There's probably a lot of mistakes in this, but my wifi has been destroying me recently and I'm just trying to knock this out before it dies again and I'll have to go through the painful motion of editing the whole thing again. And I HATE editing. 
> 
> I promise that my other works are much better quality than this haha.


End file.
